Charlie's Angels Nerf Gals. We play a mean game of Nerf gun fighting with the whole familyTiff...snug as a bug in a rug in her new sleeping bag from mom.

The cuteness factor is going on in Tiff's kitchen. Are you seeing my favorite color red!! I love all the dishes on this cute hutch!

Christmas Dinner at Tiff's all decked out gorgeousness!

Sorry ladies they are spoken for...Our husbands going tandem down the hill on the hot pink and lime green tubes!!

This is our ad for Gap winter wear in the snow he he he

Our crazy daughters jumpin high looking like hot snowboarders! You go girls!Here is the hot dog snow boarder! Look at that smile.The littlest two of the bunch. That is a snowflake on his nose not something else in case you were wondering. The Christmas tree loaded with presentsThe boys opening up presents on Christmas EveMe and Tiffers

Can you tell which sister is more of a daredevil? Not the young one but the oldest! Yeah I rock!

(This is not a photo of their home but it just illustrates a beautiful white Christmas)

We ae going to have a white Christmas year at Tiffany and Kelly's House!! Once there, we will have many photos to share of the beautiful white snow, my cute niece and nephews and Tiff's cute house all decked out!

My little brother got his Christmas wish all thanks to many sweet angels! A few of his classmates from High School decided to try and make Tim's Christmas wish of taking his entire family (eight children plus a quazzi adopted son and his cute wife, Liz) to DISNEYLAND!! They did it! Here is Tim receiving the secret fed ex package from

Santa Claus. Tim is completely overhwelmed by the generosity and love and is brought to tears.I called the local Fire Department in their area and asked them if they would help deliver a surprise to my brother who has stage 4 colon cancer and they said they would love to help me out. They even had the Santa outfit and a Santa to help with this big surprise! By looking at his boys faces looking at their dad you can tell how touching this moment was.That is a real beard by the way! "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus"

Here is the whole gang along with my cute mom and her hubby.

Tim, Liz and Mom

Here is the whole family including the cute Firemen who helped make this surprise come to life.THIS HAS TAUGHT ME HOW MUCH LOVE AND KINDNESS THERE IS IN THE WORLD TODAY. PEOPLE REALLY DO CARE AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND WILL SACRIFICE MUCH TO BRING GREAT JOY AND HAPPINESS TO OTHERS. MUCH LOVE TO ALL THOSE AT CDMHS ALUMNI! AND THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO DONATED ON TIM'S BEHALF HERE ON MY BLOG.MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

As many of you already know my brother, Tim(is this just the cutest picture of him)

(here is a picture of us in 1964 with Santa)has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, he is self-employed and has no health insurance. His business was slow prior to his diagnosis but now it is at a stand still. He has a very large family of 8 children with an angel for a wife (Liz).I am hoping to spread some cheer in any way I can to help his family through this difficult time especially this Christmas season....

(Tim and I being silly dancing) I am calling upon all of my cute blogging friends in hopes that some of you might help out.

They really want to go to California this Christmas and visit some very close friends

(Tim and Liz and their friends taken 4 years ago. Tim played scrooge in the local theatre. hence the beard)and his greatest wish is to take his family to Disneyland while they are there.

(Tim, Tiff, My daughters and his two oldest kids Tommy and Sami)Since they have little to no income this wish may not happen.

If any of you would like to help make this dream come true please click on the donation button to the right of this post or click on his photograph and it will take you to his journal on caring bridge and there is a bank account set up with Wells Fargo where you can make a deposit directly into an account for them.

Any small donation would be so helpful in making this wish come true for him.

Thanks to all of you for your concern, prayers and thoughts for him and his family. We are very hopeful that we will receive good news later this week after he has another pet scan to see if the chemo treatments have been knocking out the cancer that has spread to his liver.

I went Christmas shopping with my hubby today and did not get all my pictures taken of my kitchen so stay tuned tomorrow when I reveal more of my holiday kitchen for you.This is my chandelier with fun red ornaments hanging from the chandelier. Can you tell I love the color red yet?More to come tomorrow....

I had the fun opportunity of helping out my good friend Jan with decorating for her Daughters Wedding Reception Open House. We called upon another sweet friend, Marilyn to have her host this in her home. We tried to come up with ideas using Christmas decor to make it festive without spending hardly any money.

Here are some quick and easy ideas for any party:

This is just water with a gorgeous ice ring made out of cranberries and limes. It was perfect because all we served were mostly sweets so we didn't need a punch.

Tip: Use bottled water in a bundt pan, it makes the ice ring perfectly clear.

Think Vertical...by raising things up on pedestals or footed bowls and cake plates all your food takes on a new look and makes the food more appealing. We called upon many friend to help make all the delicious cookies, brownies, chocolate tortes, choco covered pretzels, and baked Brie cheese.Use what you have for display:Notice the white footed bowl holding the grapes? That is actually a white footed bowl turned upside down and the square platter is duct taped on top to hold it in place.Simple but elegant food items: These are just tiny chocolate cupcakes made from a mix topped with a swirl of butter cream frosting. They were placed on a glass cake plate to make them even more appealing!

Unique Food Items: This was the most delicious thing! Brie cheese topped with apricot preserves baked in puff pastry! OH MY GOSH WE COULD NOT STAY AWAY FROM THIS THE WHOLE NIGHT! We added some fresh raspberries sprinkled on the top for a little color.

Get help: You need great help in the kitchen whenever you are having a get-together. Kerri and Crystal were so fun to hang out with. We laughed the whole night!

Centerpiece idea: I used a regular old fish bowl (cleaned out of course) and I lined the inside bottom part and sides with sliced fresh limes and then filled it with fresh cranberries and covered it all with water. I then used leftover Christmas tree clippings and other greens to make the arrangement and to set the background and then added the gorgeous white roses (from the grocery store!) I wish you could see the limes better it was so pretty!

Costco: Also remember you can always pick up some items already made like these cream puffs and just add some melted chocolate squiggles to the top to make them more festive.

Include your friends when hosting a party or having an Open House. It brings women closer to one another and everyone gets to share their talents, recipes, decorating ideas and no one gets overloaded.

I found some fresh real garland at Lowe's and draped it up the staircase, added white lights and red ribbon. Put some fake garland wrapped with white lights on the fireplace mantel and added a few apothacary jars, a bottle brush tree and a darling nutcraker.Dragged out the antique sled from the attic and leaned up against the fireplace and hung the stocking close by.

Next I decided to deck the sideboard in the dining room with more fake garland wrapped in white lights. I had found these adorable green and red topiaries last year when shopping with my daughter Madeline at Garden Ridge and put them on either side.Added a clear glass cake plate with a tall red candle holder vase thing a ma jig and then under the domes I added a cute snowman dude and one of those cute cardboard house ornaments

I know this one is blurry but it just looks so warm and glowy I stuck it in here. The tree is relecting in the mirror in the background. ahhhhHere's the 9 foot Tree all done up.

Our front door with the wreath I made years ago.Close up of the wreath...I think I need to fix the ribbon a bit.

Cathleen over at Design by Cathleen just challenged me to write 7 things about myself. Let's see what I can come up with.....

1. I was born in 1960 in Sacramento, California to my cute mom and dad. I was born with a large hematoma on my head because I had a hard time getting into this world. My parents named me Kari Lee but as I grew up I took on the name of Karin instead.

2. I have one brother and one sister both of whom I adore!

I am 2 1/2 years older than my brother and 12 years older than my sister

3. I married my sweet heart 24 years ago (we just celebrated our anniversary last month)

Oh don't worry I smashed the cake in his face too!

We have always had fun together! When this happened a little boy that was watching yelled out..."Do it again" and everyone just roared with laughter.

Hong Kong last year.

3. We were blessed to have two beautiful daughters that I am so proud of.

Madeline and Emily.Madeline and Peter on their wedding day

Emily and MadelineEmily4. I love to cook and sew.

This is a quilt I am currently working on for Emily for Christmas.

Some yummy grilled potatoes and asparagus I made back in the summertime.

5. I also spend lots of time decorating my home

6. I used to be very afraid of flying but now I have flown to Hong Kong! 14 hours in an airplane!!

7. I love spending time with all of our family members whenever I get the chance to be with any of them.

Okay so there is 7 things about me. Now to pass this along...Are you ready for the challenge?

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About Me

I remember years ago looking at home decorating magazines and wishing my house looked like the photos in the magazine or that I could cook up amazing food, have a beautiful garden and be surrounded by family friends just like what they showed...I decided to live out my dreams in my own way!

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No matter where you are and what you look like. Create your own style.Let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others. The creation begins deep by yourself. Be inspired in my world and give your life an extra boost. So show yourself more and just be you ♥